The Name Game
by A.J. Irish
Summary: A killer is leaving a trail and it is up to the gang to follow it to the killer. But when Woody's childhood friend appears, Jordan has concerns of her own.
1. Default Chapter

The Name Game

The cold night air filled her lungs and her chest ached as she ran. She looked up at the partly clouded sky and was relieved that it hadn't snowed yet. It would make it easier to make her way. She wrapped the thin coat around her shoulders and pushed on. She had to keep going. She had to get away and find help before he awoke and realized that she was missing. She didn't know how long he would sleep this time. With any luck it would be a few hours. As long as it wouldn't snow and as long as she could make it back to the road there was hope. Hope for her and the others.

She looked ahead through the underbrush and trees, trying to find the road. It had to be nearby. They hadn't driven that far into the woods. That she knew. How long they had been driving out of the city and in which direction that she didn't know. She gazed into the woods behind her. She couldn't see anything moving. Her pale face turned forward once more, surveying the area, searching for signs of the road. If she could just stay on this path, if he would just sleep for a few hours, if she could just find the road. She had to make it out of these woods to tell them everything, bring them here. She had to find Woody.

One Month Earlier

"Hey Woody, don't suppose you have any coffee on you?" Woody glanced up with smiling eyes at the brunette as he flashed a large grin. Jordan crouched down next to him, her bag already open and gloves in her hand. The detective always enjoyed starting his day this way. Of course he didn't exactly enjoy the standing-over-a-fresh-dead-body part, but he always enjoyed seeing the attractive doctor first thing in the morning.

"Sorry Jordan, I seem to be fresh out" he replied. Jordan just shook her head and sighed.

"Nothing like a lack of coffee and a body to start your day. So who do we have here?" she asked as she carefully looked over the delicate body of the young woman laid perfectly before her.

"One Paula Andreas. She was found about an hour ago by one of park rangers after they received an anonymous call to search this area." He replied looking over his notes and gesturing toward the woman. "She had her ID laid in her hand in plain view. We'll run it for prints to see if we can find anything." He stood up and watched Jordan as she examined the woman. The woman had been laid carefully on her back, arms folded over her chest, her sandy hair pulled back in a loose braid which was carefully laid to rest on her shoulder.

"Well, whoever did this they wanted us to find her like this. Rigor hasn't fully set and she is barely even cool. I would say that she's been here only a few hours, maybe less." She reached for the young woman's frail hands. "Several defensive marks, some scratches on her arms. Looks like rope marks around her neck. I'll have to get her back to the morgue," Jordan said looking up, "but I would say that she was strangled and then her body dumped here. The killer may have even been the one to place that call in." She gingerly placed the woman's hand back on her chest.

"Hey Woody, did take a look at this." She stood up holding up a white piece of paper. "This was her shirt sleeve." She unfolded it and handed it to Woody. His forehead wrinkled studying the writing in it carefully.

"She was Small.' What is that supposed to mean?" He said aloud, looking into the distance.

Jordan gave him a crooked smile. "How should I know, you're the detective."


	2. Two In One Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Crossing Jordan . . . yada, yada and so forth.

This is my first attempt at a fanfic so criticism, good or bad, is always welcome.

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Nigel sat at his desk finishing the last of an autopsy report. He let out a long sigh as he singed his name to the report and closed the manilla folder. It had been a slow week, and it was only Tuesday. Just a couple of older ladies that died of natural causes, a bloke who had a heart attack on his way to work and a drunk driver that hit a light pole was all he had to occupy him. Granted the last one had been a bit messy, but nothing that could really pique his curiosity. He stretched his lanky frame and wandered toward the door. "I hope something interesting pops up today," he mumbled to himself as he walked into the hall.

"You should be careful of what you wish for Nige" a voice called from behind him. "You might end up with a headache." He turned to see his fellow ME walk up beside him.

"Hello love. You look awful chipper today." Nigel said grinning as he wrapped his arm around Jordan's shoulders as they walked into the break room.

"I don't do chipper, Nige. I just do coffee," she said picking up a mug from the counter top and pouring herself a cup. "Do you think you could run a check on someone for me?"

"Maybe I could. Have you got something interesting for me today?" He grinned excitedly.

"Not likely," she said watching Nigel's face fall dejectedly. "I just want to find some background. Get an idea of what I'm getting into." She was about to take a long hot drink when Lily popped her head around the corner.

"Nigel, Jordan. Garret wants everyone in the conference room for assignments" she said, her red head darting out of sight as quickly as it had come. Jordan looked at her cup then Nigel who just shrugged his shoulders and headed out the door. Jordan stood there a moment taking a long drink of her coffee before following Nigel.

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"How is it that you get all the fun?" Nigel said from behind Jordan who was bent over the body of Paula Andreas. "A mysterious little note to play with. How I envy you, love."

"What's that matter Nigel, you don't find little old grannies fun anymore?" Jordan teased as she stitched the incision closed. "Could you move the light a little further this way for me? Besides I wouldn't call it fun. Not unless you're talking for the murder. She was strangled with a thin rope. Looks like she tried to fight him off but he was probably much bigger than she is."

"I ran a check for you on our little Ms. Andreas here and I ran into a few snags. We may have trouble notifying her next of kin. I couldn't find a local address on her so I started looking at the local universities and colleges. Nothing. " Nigel told her sourly.

"That's because she isn't from Boston." Woody said walking into the room. "Her ID showed her address as Clinton, MA. She checked into the Bay Inn three days ago. Clerk said that she left early this morning around 7am saying that she had a business meeting. We're still trying to reach her family." He looked down at the girl laying in front of him. "I don't suppose you could tell me anything about her?" Jordan nodded.

"She didn't put up much of a struggle. Toxic screen didn't show up anything so we know that she wasn't sedated. I didn't find much her nails except a few fibers from the rope and a few traces of blood. No DNA matches there. And the rope looks to be standard stuff that you would find at a hardware store. Nigel here is still running some tests to see if we can find anything. The killer probably lured her somewhere, and attacked her there. I'd say she didn't even know what was happening." Jordan pushed a stray hair away from her face. "You said she had a meeting? Do you think that had anything to do with it?"

"I don't know, we're hoping that her family will be able to tell us something . . . if we can find them. We are having a bit of trouble there. " Woody looked sideways at Nigel. "I don't suppose you have toys here that could be used to find them?" Nigel just smiled gleefully.

"I may know of a few places to look. Say Woodrow, I don't suppose I could have a little fun and have a go at solving the mystery of that little note?" Woody opened his mouth to answer, but his cell phone interrupted him. He flipped it open and wandered to a corner of the room.

"Guess that means he never really said 'no" Nigel said practically skipping out the door and nearly running into Garret.

"I got a pick up down off of Stuart Street. I need you to get down there." Garret said gruffly. "Dispatch said they requested you. I'll have Sydney finish up f or you here." Jordan nodded.

"We might as well ride down together" Woody said behind her as he closed his phone. "There's another girl, looks like it may be the same guy."

The woman was laid out just as the other victim had been, on her back with her arms folded neatly over her chest. Except that this woman was laid out in her own living room. The room was otherwise picture perfect, unless you counted the lamps on the floor and the papers scattered everywhere. Jordan could see immediately that she had been strangled as well, though she had put up a good fight.

"There are scratches and abrasions on her arms and face. I'd say that she fought for a while before he got a good hold on her and she lost consciousness. I think that there is blood under her nails, which may help. If it is a match to the blood sample we found on Paula Andreas we can link him to our newest victim. Of course if you guys can lift some prints that would be great." She said as she walked with Woody toward the ME van away from the house boarded by a white picket fence that was now covered with police tape. "But she's only been dead for about an hour maybe two. Was there an ID again?"

"Yeah, her name was Lorna O'Neil," Woody read off of his trusty notepad. "We found a note too, just like the last victim. This one said 'She was Alone.' There's something else. This one was called in by an anonymous caller again and he called from inside the home. We're dusting for prints but we haven't found any yet. No sign of forced entry so she must have known who it was."

"Two murders and one killer all in one day" Woody mumbled to himself as the woman was placed into the ME van.

"So this guy knew her. I wonder if this guy was who Paula was meeting. I don't think that he would be leaving these cryptic notes if he didn't know them somehow. They almost sound too personal to be just anyone." Jordan paused a moment thinking about the note. "Did O'Neil live alone?"

"No, her husband was at work. He's on his way to the morgue now. We can talk to him and see if he can help." Woody looked back at the little house, shaking his head. "This guy is playing with us Jordan. Why else would he leave such strange clues if he wasn't toying with us?"

Jordan laid her hand on his shoulder. "We'll figure this out. Mr. O'Neil might be able to tell us something. Look, do your thing here, I'll go do mine. If I find anything I'll give you a call." Woody nodded his head. He knew if there was anything to be found, Jordan could find it.


	3. A Connection

Nearly a full week had passed since Paula Andreas and Lorna O'Neil had been murdered. Jordan and Nigel had gone over the bodies with painstaking care. The blood samples from both victims matched, but Nigel couldn't find any matches in any databases. Both women were strangled and both were arranged in the same manner. Both were found within hours of the deaths. But they could not find anything that connected the two beyond their deaths.

And now, a day later Jordan lay on the lounger in her office, pouring over autopsy reports and looking for any detail that they could have missed. Her eyes read the text for what seemed like the fiftieth time. She was sure that the missing piece, the one thing that linked them had to do with the bizarre notes. But off course the Boston P.D. had those. And Woody had said that they hadn't found anything. Frustrated, she laid the reports on her lap and closed her eyes trying to think.

She thought about everything that she and Nigel had gone over. Nigel had figured out the brand of rope used to kill the two women, but it was sold in nearly 200 local hardware or gardening stores in the greater Boston area. They had tried contacting all of them, but it turned up nothing so far. Woody still couldn't find any next of kin for Paula Andreas and that was putting a major kink in the investigation. Jordan was actually feeling bad for Woody. She felt as though she was doing more damage than good. She had tried every angle that she could think of and couldn't find much in the way of evidence for him to work with.

Jordan was so deep in thought that she almost didn't realize that someone had appeared in her office. Not just someone, but Woody. She could smell the cologne that he liked to wear.

The stuff that he had once said wore off on her. Though she would never admit it to him, she had become fond of it on him. She could sense him bend down next to the lounger, watching her. She debated for a moment if she should let him think that she was asleep, but he answered for her. He leaned into her ear, his warm breath grazing her skin. She caught herself holding her breath.

"Jordan, time to get of bed and get dressed." He whispered playfully. Jordan suddenly remembered waking him up in a similar way once in his office while working on one of their first cases together. She decided to beat him at his own game. With her eyes still closed she smiled slyly.

"Mmm, do we have to Woody?" She heard him stand up so suddenly that he nearly fell over her desk. Jordan opened her eyes laughing at him. "You should know better than to trying playing with me like that, detective."

"Jordan. I...I uh, thought you were asleep." He said trying to clear his throat. He righted himself up as Jordan sat up and walked over to him.

"So you thought that you would wake me up, huh? How good of you." Woody just responded with a grin. She like seeing him like this, playful and relaxed. But as much as she hated to admit it, she missed had missed the light banter that they once shared regularly.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. You just looked like . . . well, I thought you could use a wake up call." Flustered, Woody could feel the room starting to get a little warm.

"That's not a wake up call, Farm Boy." Jordan said with her warm eyes shining. "One of these days I'll show you a real wake up call." Woody tilted his head down toward, their faces only inches apart.

"Is that a promise?" He asked holding her gaze. For a moment neither of them moved. It quickly became almost too close for Jordan's comfort, but she wasn't about to let him win this little game. This was the time to fight fie with fire.

"What do you think?" Her voice was so low that it was almost a whisper. Woody inhaled sharply and held his breath. Jordan instantly wished that they were somewhere else other than her office, some place with less windows and more pillows. For a split second she actually thought about what that promise could mean.

"Tell me how much you love me!" Nigel exclaimed making his entrance to the office in his usual grand style. Jordan and Woody jumped. Nigel looked between the two. Both looked flushed like two kids who had just been caught doing something naughty.

"Exactly why do I love you Nigel?" Jordan asked feeling grateful for the distraction.

"I found some information on the first victim." He came a little further into the office and held out his hand filled with paper. "I found out why we couldn't locate and next of kin on our Miss Andreas. She was a ward of the state until about 3years ago. Before then she was Paula Michaels, daughter of Kathy and James Michaels. She had been placed up for adoption when she was three and she was then taken in by Gloria and Thomas Andreas. They probably changed her name when they adopted her. It seems that she they died in a car accident when she was 16 and she was a ward of the state since then." Nigel beamed. "So tell me how much you love me."

"That still doesn't tell us why she was staying in Boston." Woody said looking up from the papers that Jordan held in her hands.

"Have you no faith in me, detective?" Nigel asked. Jordan grinned. This was always where Nigel filled in the good stuff. "I was able to contact an old room mate of hers and . . . "

"A roommate?" Woody interrupted. "How did you find a room mate?"

"Old address directory, my good man. Anyway," he continued, "this old room mate told me that about two years ago Paula had found out the names of her biological parents and that she had been placed for adoption. She wanted to know why they let her go since they were very much alive at the time. She said that about three weeks ago Paula asked her to watch her apartment for a bit as she was coming to Boston to look for them."

"So Paula was looking in Boston for her family." Jordan said slowly. "Maybe she found something that wasn't meant to be found and this guy killed her to keep it buried."

"That still doesn't explain the note or the other victim." Woody's brow furrowed. "She could have been in the wrong place as the saying goes."

"No, I don't think so." Jordan set the papers down, thinking carefully. "The note seemed to be specifically about Paula. I don't think it was random. Lorna had a similar note. Besides, she hardly put up a struggle so she had to have known who her killer was."

"I may have found something that will help make a connection." Nigel pulled out a piece of paper from the bottom of the pile and held it up. "Do you know what this is? This is a pedigree chart. There were charts similar to this all over Lorna O'Neil's home. There are used to record or trace and track family lineage. Lorna had just started tracing her family tree"

"So are you saying that they were related in some way?" Woody asked looking closely at yet another paper over Jordans shoulders.

"No, but Paula was getting help to find her family. Her room mate said that she was using the services of a genealogist in Boston." Nigel Clarified. "I thought you could talk to Lorna's husband and find out if she was using one as well."

"What's a genealogist?" Woody asked.

"Someone who tracing family trees and history for a living. Not a lot of them around. I didn't know that there was any in Boston." Jordan looked over to Nigel. "I don't suppose you have the name of this genealogy service Paula was using?"

"Sorry, no. But I do have a list of the different family search services in the Boston area" Nigel handed her a list of names. "I thought that you could check with Lorna's husband to see if she has used a service as well. Maybe that was how they were connected."

Jordan looked at the list for a moment, smiling. "Nigel, I love you this much."


	4. Another Link

The living room had been restored to its original state. Mr. Donald O'Neil sat in his livingroom on the overstuffed sofa. The balding man sat with his hands folded in front of him, his shoulders hunched over. He started dejectedly at the floor rug in front of him as if looking at the pattern would make everything fade away. Jordan watched him for a bit. She wanted to tell him that they were making great progress and that they had the man who murdered his wife behind bars. Instead all she could do was watch him.

"Mr. O'Neil" Woody began, "thank you again for seeing us once more."

"Don is fine" he said hoarsely. "Or Donny. Lorna liked to call me that." He still hadn't looked at Jordan or Woody. "You know she was always so sweet and kind. I used to say that wherever she went never met a stranger because she made friends so easily. I don't know how anyone could . . . " Donald shoulders began to shake for a moment before he took a deep breath. It was then that he raised his blue eyes to the pair sitting across from him. "Tell me what I can do. Tell me how I can help."

Woody nodded to Jordan. "Donald, er Don, we may have found something, but we need to ask you a few things. Was your wife trying to find a lost relative or searching her family roots?" She asked slowly.

Donald looked at her for a moment with a puzzled look on his face. "Yes, it was her hobby. Something to keep her busy. She wanted to have something to give to our children someday. Both our son and daughter are fighting overseas. I think it was a way for her to try to stay closer to them, if that makes any sense."

"Mr. O'Neil," Woody began leaning forward a bit in his chair, "did your wife use a genealogy service or a family search service of any kind?"

Donald nodded his head. "Yeah, lately she ran into a snag of some kind and she thought that maybe a professional would be able to help her or point in her in the right direction. She didn't really tell me much about it unless she found something that she thought was really important." His lips broke into a small, lopped sided smile. "She always thought that it bothered me when she told me about every little detail, so she usually tried not to talk about it all the time with me. But I loved to see the way her eyes lit up when she would talk about it"

"Do you know the name of the service that she was using?" Jordan asked slowly. Donald's smile disappeared and he shook his head. "I don't think I do. She just started working with them a few weeks ago."

Jordan pulled the list out of her bag and handed it to Donald. "Do any of these names look familiar to you?" Donald's hands took as he took the paper from Jordan's hand. She couldn't help but notice how defeated he looked. Yet he seemed to have a determined look in his eyes.

Donald's eyes traveled slowly over the short list before he fell onto one that looked familiar to him. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "I think this one is it." He pointed his finger at a name on the list and looked at Woody and Jordan. "A. K. Connections. That's the name of the service that she was using." He handed the paper back to Jordan.

"What exactly did the service do for your wife Mr. O'Neil?" Woody asked slowly taking his note pad out of his suit pocket.

"Well," Donald thought for a moment before speaking. "Like I said, she didn't tell me much. But I guess that they would gather information for her or find more documents or something. I don't really know." He ran his hand over his scalp slowly as he shook his head. "I wish I had asked her more. Maybe I could help you more. Forgive me for asking, but how does this service . . . I mean, how does this help find the person that did this to my wife?"

"We think that your wife may be connected to another woman who was murdered the same day." Woody explained. "We are trying to find anything that we can to catch the man who did this." Donald nodded his head.

It was at this moment that both Jordan's phone and Woody's pager went off. They both looked at each other and then to Donald.

"I know. You need to go." He said looking at them. He stood up and walked with them silently to the door pausing only as they stepped out side. "Just catch him." He then shut the door behind them.

"Jordan, don't you ever answer your phone?" Garret's voice rang in Jordan's ear moments after she called the morgue.

"Sorry Garret, we were speaking with Mr. O'Neil." Jordan said climbing into her SUV. Woody was already checking his pager for the number as he climbed into the passenger seat.

"We? I would assume that means that Woody is with you?" Jordan glanced over to the detective who was busy making a call on his phone. She guessed that it was to check in with Eddie at the precinct.

"Yeah, he's right here." She could almost hear Garret shaking his head at her and pinching the bridge of his nose on the other end of the line.

"Good, then you can both go down to South Proctor Street the 520 block. There was another body found at and apartment complex there. Dispatch said that it was called in by . . . "

"Let me guess" Jordan sighed. "An anonymous caller?"

"You guessed it." Garret answered. "Look. Jordan we have to find this guy soon. So be thorough on this one okay. We need everything we can get." The line went dead. She shoved her phone into her pocket and watched Woody write an address on his ever-present note pad.

"Yeah, we're on the way . . . that's what I said Eddie." He closed his phone and laid his head back. "Here we go again."

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The afternoon sun shined down on the back of Jordan as she leaned over the most recent victim. She gazed over the body of the woman, looking for anything new that could help. She grew frustrated as she realized that just like the previous two murders, this woman had been killed within the last two or three hours. She had been strangled as well, likely with the same type of rope. And as before there was an ominous note resting in her hand with her ID. She stood up to survey the scene. Police officers had taped off the area and the usual gawking crowd had amassed. Woody stood talking with a young blond. The girl was struggling to talk through her tears. Woody placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and she nodded and wiped away a few strands of hair from her red face.

Jordan's shoulders sank as she turned back to the young woman's body. The grass had already turned brown in the October weather. As she looked around, she noticed marks on the ground nearby.

"Drag marks" she murmured. She signaled for the nearest officer. "Get some pictures of these will ya." She stepped out of the way as the officer called for the photographer. The first victim didn't have drag marks near her.

"I just spoke with Bridget Hogan, the victim's granddaughter. She said that they usually have coffee together after she is done with work and that she arrived at her grandmother's apartment to find it empty. She said that she found her grandmother when she was coming out to her car." Woody looked at Jordan as she carefully studied the scene. Her honey eyes searching the ground.

"What was her name again? And what did the note say?" She looked at Woody's pad as he read off of it.

"Miriam Hogan. The note said 'She was bitter." He glanced back at the crowd that ad built up behind them. "I'm going to talk with her more at the station if you want to come with me."

Jordan shook her head. "I'm going to go find out what out Mrs. Hogan can tell us." She looked at the ground again, surveying the marks. "Woody, is it possible that the killer dumped the body here after Bridget went into the apartment building? That would certainly explain why she didn't see her until after she came out."

"Sure" he said nodding. "But it would have to be pretty hard to do. It's broad daylight. He could have been easily spotted. It was sheer luck that he did it after Bridget went in to check on her.

"Unless the killer knew Miriam's schedule." Jordan said looking at Woody then at Miriam's body on the ground. "Look, there's drag marks. She was laid out perfectly just like the other two. But the first victim was small and she could have easily been carried. Mariam here was larger and he was in a hurry so it was easier to drag her here. Not only that, but there are only a few defensive marks. She knew the person who killed her." She looked back at Woody. His eye were focused near the ground, deep in thought.

"Back that up agin. Why didn't we find any drag marks near Paula Andreas?"

"Because she must have been carried." Jordan answered trying to follow his train of thought.

"And why was she carried?" He said looking her in the eyes.

"She was smaller and..." Her voice trailed off. "She was small. That's what the note said. And Lorna O'Neil was alone when she was killed, just like the note said." She looked down at the woman in front of her. "But this doesn't make sense. How does that connect the women?"

"I don't know." Woody looked back at Bridget once more. "But maybe I can find out."


	5. Stumped

Author's note: Sorry for the delay. As usual I always welcome comments. And of course...CJ isn't mine, blah, blah...

Bridget looked around the office. There were so many windows looking into the hall that she could see the others walking around going about their business. Many of them were shuffling through papers or talking. She looked back down at the desk in front of her. The kind detective that she had spoke with earlier wanted her to go with him to the morgue. She still couldn't believe that her grandmother was dead. The woman who cared for her after her mother died, who had worked to put her through college was dead.

"Miss Hogan?" Bridget looked up to see a woman with long dark hair standing in the door. She nodded and started to stand up.

"No, that's okay. I'm Dr. Cavanaugh. I'm sorry for your loss." She held out her hand to the young woman. Bridget took it and nodded silently.

"Thank you. I just want to know when I can take my grandmother to her funeral home." She said quietly. When she didn't immediately hear an answer, she looked up.

"It may be another day or two more, Miss Hogan." Jordan said sitting on the edge of her desk. "We may need to examine her again. We want to find the person that did this so we need to be very careful and thorough." Jordan slowly explained.

"Thorough with what? My grandmother is already dead." She said sharply. She left out a long sigh and hung her head. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. You're right. You need answers. I want those answers too." Bridget stood up and paced the room a bit. "I guess that you need me to pick her out or identify her, huh?" Jordan nodded. She held out a Polaroid for Bridget to see. Bridget looked at it before handing it back to the doctor and nodded her head holding back her tears.

"Is there anything that I can do?" Bridget asked looking at Jordan.

"Have you spoke with Detective Hoyt?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah, I talked with him. He said that there may be a couple of connecting factors. What exactly does that mean?" she asked, the sharp tone returning to her voice.

"It means" Jordan said slowly and carefully, "that we think that your grandmother's death was connected to two other murders in Boston." She watched the young woman's face as it twisted from pain than to anger.

"You mean this was something that could have been stopped?" She stood up, her voice raising sharply.

"We don't have enough information yet to..." Jordan started.

"No." Bridget interrupted, pointing her finger at Jordan. "I don't want any excuses. I want answers. I want you to tell me why this happened and why no one stopped him before my grandmother had to pay for someone's mistakes." She turned on her feet and went to the door.

"Ms. Hogan. Bridget, please. I assure that we are working with Boston Police to do everything possible." Jordan called after her.

"If you had done everything," Bridget said taking the door handle in her hand, "Miriam Hogan would be alive, not in your crypt." She strode out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

Jordan let out a long sigh and sank into her chair. She brought her hand to her forehead and ran it over her dark hair. Bridget's words rang in her ears. She wondered if there was something that had been missed. Were the notes correct? Was there a connection with the common hobby? What if there was something that they had missed, something that was over looked? She stood up and walked down the hall to Nigel's office.

"Nigel!" she said, swinging open the door.

"Mother Mary!" He exclaimed, dropping a binder from his hands. "Jordan, what are you trying to do to me?"

"Sorry, Nige," She said. "Could you do something for me?"

Nigel picked up the binder and a few loose papers that had fallen with it from the floor. "Well, that depends on what it is. I'm working on some updates for the systems and it may be a bit."

"I need a fresh pair of eyes to look over the reports for a few victims." She said exasperated. "I finished the autopsy on Miriam Hogan. She was the latest vic from our serial murderer. Strangled with the same rope just like the others. Gave up only a small struggle. She was found within an hour after the call with was placed by the killer. I know that the notes are connected but I can only guess why. And I don't know if Miriam was using that genealogist that the others were. Not to mention..."

"I get it, love." Nigel said putting his hand on Jordan's shoulder. "You need a new view on it. Look, I can give it a go for you and see what I find. If I see anything new or some up with anything I'll give you and Woodrow a call okay?"

"Thanks Nige." She smiled and walked back to her office. She sat down and started gathering a few papers when her phone rang.

"Dr. Cavanaugh."

"Jordan, I have some news." He said through the phone.

"Anything good?" She asked.

"Well, it seems that Miriam was also using A.K. Connections' services," He said, "but not for help building a family tree. She was using the service to locate a long lost sister, Bridget's great aunt Fanny Miller. Bridget said that they were reunited this last year. It seems that when Miriam was 14 her parents died and she and her sister as well as a younger brother, Wayne were separated."

"So all three victims were using this service. Maybe we should stop by and find out what is going on." Jordan suggested. "Where are you? I'll pick you up."

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She stumbled in the dark, the cold biting at her fingers as she pushed through the underbrush. She shivered with each step that she took. Even so, she smiled to herself. She could see the road just up ahead. It was only a short distance away. Just as she had so many times before, she looked behind her and saw nothing. She stopped and listened. She heard only the wind whipping the empty branches of the trees. She knew that at least an hour had to have gone by. With any luck he would still be sleeping. She had managed to put a few ground Aspirin into the liquor before he drank it. She still wasn't sure how she had pulled it off without getting caught. But with any luck he would be sleeping for a bit yet.

She came to the road and looked both ways. She saw no vehicles or signs to tell her where she was. Suddenly she felt as though her stomach had hit the ground. She didn't know which direction to go. Her eyes darted in both directions. She closed her eyes for a moment thinking carefully. Then, with determination she opened her eyes and carefully searched the sky. Though the clouds obscured the stars, she looked for a glow among the clouds. She found what she was looking for towards her right. She took a deep breath, pushed her long hair behind her ears, and began walking swiftly towards the glow.


	6. A New Lead, An Old Friend

The sun had already begun to fade in the skyline as Jordan pulled up to the curb in front of the precinct. She watched as Woody stood at a nearby coffee vender. He handed the man behind the stand a couple bills and took two cups from the counter. As he approached, she reached across the seat and with her outstretched hand opened the door.

"Jordan do you really think this is such a good idea?" Woody said handing Jordan a fresh coffee as he climbed into her passenger seat. She took one of the cups from his hand as she pulled into traffic.

"Coffee is always a good idea" she smiled then swiftly taking in a quick gulp of the hot liquid before making a right turn in traffic.

He shook his head. He didn't know why he even bothered to try to talk her out of going with him, much less argue about who would be doing the driving. He looked at her out of the corner of his blue eyes. Next time he would know better.

"Tell me Jordan, exactly what did you plan on saying when you get there? 'Hi there, can you tell me why all of your clients are dropping dead?' This is a police investigation. I do the talking. I am only letting you come along as a courtesy." He waved his finger toward her.

"Courtesy?" Jordan said raising her eyebrows. "Oh come on Woody. Nigel was the one who found this family search thing and . . . "

"And I am grateful for that but this is still a murder investigation." He said sternly.

"An investigation that I am still a part of." Jordan shot back.

Woody shook his head yet again. "You do this every time Jordan. You take too much interest in a case and you get me into trouble. Do you really think that I will just let you do it again?"

"How else can we fight and make up afterwards?" She said with a crooked smile. "So what do we have on this Connections place?" She asked making another turn onto a side street.

"Looks like it started up about five years ago by Alexis Kelly. It started out pretty small, but she has built a bit a name for herself. The business was featured in a couple of local papers last year. Other than that there isn't much. The building is just up there." He pointed toward the end of the street. "Remember Jordan, I take the lead on this."

She brought the SUV to a stop in front of a small brick building. "Whatever you say detective."

"I mean it Jordan. Let me do this without any of your help. You are just here to observe." He shut the door and stepped onto the curb.

"Like that will happen." Jordan said under her breath. She looked up at the two story building. In the fading daylight the old red bricks with delicate ivy crawling up the sides seemed to have an old charm to it. It looked more like a family home and would have been mistaken for one had it not been for the small wooden sign that hung over the door with the name "A. K. Connections" scrawled across it.

"Are you waiting for an invitation?" Woody called. Jordan walked past Woody and went inside. Woody sighed and followed suit.

Stepping inside Jordan looked around. The entry way opened into a foyer area with a large set of stairs. Just to the right of the stairs sat a white-haired woman at a desk talking on the phone. She looked up from her desk and waived them in. "I'll be right with you both." she said and turned her attention back to the phone.

Woody stepped from behind her and looked around the room. Across from the foyer was a large waiting room with plush furniture and a fireplace. Jordan watched as Woody walked through the entryway and around the room as if he was expecting some clues to jump out at him. He stepped over to a fireplace that held a warm glowing fire. On the mantel was a series of pictures. He noticed the pictures were mostly family portraits, some candid poses. After examining them he turned over to a coffee table that had a series of informational and promotional pamphlets.

"Take a look at this." He said picking one off of the table and reading it out loud. "Our many services include and are not limited to complete family history, coat of arms and crest information as well as long lost people searches. We also offer classes and seminars for first time genealogists and assistance for those who prefer a do-it-yourself approach."

"Is there anything that I can help you with today?"

Jordan turned to see the woman from the desk standing behind her with an expectant smile. Woody looked at Jordan with a warning, but Jordan ignored him and plowed ahead.

"As a matter of fact you can. I'm Dr. Cavanaugh and this is Detective Hoyt. We are here to see Alexis Kelly." Jordan smiled politely.

The woman studied her for a moment. "Ms. Kelly just had her last appointment for the day. We she expecting you?"

"Yes, she just told us that we could stop in at the end of the day." Jordan fibbed. "She said that she that should could fit us in." The woman looked at her for a moment before her face softened.

"She had mentioned that she was helping a detective friend with a missing person case. Well, she is on the phone with a client, but she should be nearly done." She lead them back to the foyer and pointed up the staircase. " I'll let her know that you are here. Just go on up. It's the last door on the right."

They climbed the stairs and continued down a short hallway. On either side of the hall there was a set of doors each with its own plaque with a name engraved on it.

"Guess there is a lot of money in this stuff " Jordan whispered over her shoulder to Woody. "Here it is. Last door on the right."

She peered in and slowly they stepped into the room. It looked like a typical office, with bookshelves and filing cabinets lining the back and side walls. A thin woman dressed in a tailored grey suit with her hair pulled into a neat twist stood behind a large desk. Her back to them and she was holding a file and was flipping through it.

"Yes, Mrs. Phelps, I have everything all set. I will be sending it out tomorrow and you should receive everything within the week. Remember to call me if you have any further questions." She pushed a button on the phone and turned around, her head still down in the file.

"Ms. Kelly," Woody said pulling out his badge. "This is Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh of the Medical Examiner's Office and I'm Detective..."

"Come on Woody, I know who you are." She smiled and raised her green eyes to look at the pair. "I heard you had come to Boston, but I never really got around to looking you up."

Jordan looked over at Woody. She saw the confusion play across his face. She looked suspiciously at Alexis Kelly. She had set down the file and had come from around her desk approaching them with a warm smile.

"Gosh, it has to have been, what, about seven years. How's Cal?" she asked.

"Uh, he's good." Woody said slowly. "I'm ...I'm sorry, have we met before?"

Alexis raised an eyebrow and grinned. "C'mon Woody. Don'tcha know a fellow cheese head, eh?" she said in a mock Wisconsin accent.

Woody studied her for a moment before his face lit up. He stepped up to her and engulfed her with him arms. "Alexis Wilichowski. Wow, you look so ..."

"Old?" She laughed lightly. "Yeah, a couple of years will do that to you. So how have you been?" She asked as she broke away.

"I've been good." He turned to Jordan. "Alexis and her older brother, Alan, went to school with Cal and me. We all grew up together." He turned back to Alexis. "Why didn't you call? I didn't know that you were here. Hey, I didn't know that you had even gotten married."

"I was going to college here in Boston when I met Colin. After Mom died I moved to Boston permanently. It just seemed right since I didn't really have any other family there. " she explained.

"What about Alan?" Woody asked. Alexis just shook her head.

"Alan decided to move to Milwaukee. He had a position in a law firm there."

"Are you two quite done playing reunion?" Jordan interrupted. Alexis looked over to Jordan as if seeing her for the first time.

"I'm sorry. You're absolutely right. Sit down." She said going into business mode and pointing to the chairs in front of the desk. "Please tell me what brings you here."

"We are investigating a series of murders. All of the victims were clients of yours." Jordan said carefully studying Alexis.

Alexis nodded. "I heard about Miss Andreas and Mrs. O'Neil. I know that they had been assigned to one of my assistants. I wondered if it had meant anything."

"Alexis," Woody leaned forward in his chair. "There has been another victim that was a client. Do you remember a Miriam Hogan?"

She thought carefully for a moment. "I don't remember the name." She said shaking her head. "Let me check something." She turned to her computer and started clicking at the keyboard. "I have all of my assistant's computers hooked up to a main database. That way I can have access to all the information that comes and goes in the office. If she was a client here I will have her complete account history. It might take a minute."

She continued typing for a minute until she found what she was looking for. "Well, I can tell you that she was a client here. But you won't like what I have to say, Woody." She looked over at them. "This is a business that deals with a lot of personal information. So we sign a confidentiality agreement with all of our clients. I can give you all the information you want on Miriam's account and the others, but not without breaking those agreements. And that would put me in a lot of hot water. If I can get permission from the families or if you can get a warrant, I can get all the information for you. I could get copies of the files for you too."

"Is that so you can write new files and cover up things you don't want seen?" Jordan asked narrowing her eyes at the woman.

The woman shook her head. "Dr. Cavanaugh, was it? Look, Woody can tell you that I'm not like that. I believe on finding the truth in everything. And I want to do everything I can to help, but I need to be sure that it is all done by following the rules." She leaned forward on the desk. "Look at it this way. If I was looking for your family, would you want anyone to be able to come in off of the street and know your personal information? I do this for their protection. I'm not hiding anything."

"If we can get permission from the families yet tonight, would you be willing to over them with us later this evening? Colin wouldn't mind you staying out late, would he?" Woody asked.

Alexis' smile faltered a bit. "I highly doubt it. Colin died a few years ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Woody said quietly. Alexis only nodded.

"It's okay, Woody, It's not like I kept in touch. Anyway," she said taking a deep breath, "We should call the families and see what we can do. If you give about an hour to contact the necessary individuals I can pull everything together and we can meet to go over everything."

Jordan pulled a post-it and a pen from the holder on the desk and scrawled and address on it. She stood up and handed it to her. "Once you have the files meet us here. It's easy enough to find."

"Great," Alexis stood up and held out her hand to Jordan. "I'll see you in about an hour." Jordan just looked down at the outstretched hand.

"Yeah," she said as she nodded and walked out of the office.

"Uh, thanks Alexis. I'll see you later." Woody said backing out of the office as Alexis sat down and picked up the phone.

"'Let me take the lead.'. Seems to me like you let her lead you." Jordan said slamming the SUV door shut and staring the vehicle.

"First of all Jordan, did you really have to be so rude? Alexis is an old friend from home. She just surprised me. And secondly..."

"An old friend that you didn't even recognize." Jordan shot at him. Woody took a deep breath.

"Secondly, she offered to help. She may have information that could catch this guy." Woody said.

"Do you always hug all of you old friends like that?" Jordan asked accusingly.

"Like what? I haven't seen her in a long time. Besides we were always real close." Woody shot back. "Look, she is going to help us on this investigation. She has information that will be useful, so try to be a little nicer to her tonight okay?" He crossed his arms and watched the buildings pass as he gazed out the window. Jordan just stared straight ahead as they drove back in silence.


	7. Suspcions

Author's note: Again . . . I don't own CJ. Hope everyone is enjoying the story.

Present

Snow had started to fall around her in the dark. The flakes were large, fluffy and wet. She usually loved this kind of snow fall. If she was at home, she would have turned off all of the lights in her apartment, maybe light a candle, and sat in silence watching it fall outside her window. But she wasn't safe at home. She was struggling to keep her body from shivering as she continued down the road. She hadn't seen any cars on the road yet, but she was getting closer to the light source that reflected off of the clouded sky. She could see a soft glow on the horizon.

"I have to get help. I have to get to Woody." She thought to herself. He would be able to get back to the shack and recover the information and the man who started all of this. Woody would be able to stop him. Her hair whipped around her as a gust of wind blew. She hunched her shoulders and pulled her coat even tighter and stopped for a moment. Her teeth chattered as she listened carefully to her surroundings. She could hear a steading hum in the distance. She turned around to look behind her. In the distance she could see headlights approaching. She squinted, trying to see what kind of vehicle it was. She was thrilled to see the lights, but it may have been him. She didn't want him to find her alone out in the middle of the road. That would just make things worse. But she couldn't very well hide and let someone that could possibly help just drive past. She looked back toward the light source once more before looking at the oncoming headlights. She had to make a decision now.

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Three Weeks Ago

Jordan was still fuming over the meeting with Alexis when she arrived back at the morgue to check back with Nigel. She was still so involved with her thoughts that she nearly knocked Lily over coming out of the elevator.

"Sorry Lily. I didn't see you there." Lily looked at her with concern.

"Are you alright? Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing I can't handle" Jordan replied as she started down the hall toward Nigel's office. She walked in to find his office space empty. Frustrated she walked out and headed to the autopsy rooms. She found him preparing to weigh a plump heart near on open body.

"So what did you find Nigel?" Jordan asked bluntly.

"I'm sorry love, could you be more specific?" He said plunking the heart into the tray.

"The files on our victims. Did you look over them or not?" She said curtly.

"Jordan, I looked over all of the files and I still haven't found anything new." Nigel shrugged. "Frankly I'm as stumped as you."

"What about the genealogy service?" Jordan asked drilling him.

"Look Jordan, I've got to finish this autopsy and Dr. Macy still needs the final reports on system updates."

"Fine. I'll just to have to ask Sydney to do it." She turned on her heel.

"Good luck with that. He's out on a call. And if you're thinking of getting Bug to do it, he was delayed at the conference in Chicago." Nigel called after her. Jordan stood at the doorway for a moment. Nigel sighed and shook his head.

"Alright, I'll take another look at the service. I'll see what I can find." When she didn't answer, he took a few steps toward her. "Jordan?"

Jordan turned and round and faced Nigel. "If I wanted to find out information about someone how would I do it?" Nigel studied her a bit.

"Why, you would ask the computer genius that stands before you. Jordan what is it?"

Jordan briefly explained her encounter with Alexis Kelly in her office. "He practically forgot why we were even there. And if they were such good friends, why didn't she look him up when she heard that he had moved to Boston? For that matter why didn't they stay in contact?" Nigel thought for a moment.

"Jordan people loose touch. Time passes and people change. It happens all the time." Nigel said gently. "You said that she is meeting you tonight? Where?"

"At the bar." She answered. "I thought that we needed to be on our own turf."

"Well, you know I love a good mystery. If it will put your mind at ease, as soon as I am done here, I'll see what I can find on her. If I do find anything, I'll stop by." Jordan smiled and patted her Nigel's back.

"Thanks Nigel. I just don't feel right about her."

Jordan still had her suspicions later as she and Woody took over the booth in the back corner of the bar. She had called her two bartenders and told them that they could come in a few hours late. She knew that in the early evening hours on a Monday it wouldn't be terribly busy. In fact when she unlocked the doors the only person there had been Woody. Wordlessly she opened the doors and let Woody inside. She shut the door behind them and walked behind the bar. She was pouring two pints when Woody decided to speak.

"Do I have to send up a white flag to get you to talk to me?" He asked. Jordan looked up at him from behind the bar. She didn't want to put him on the defensive, but she couldn't help but have a nagging feeling about his old friend.

"How well do you know Alexis?" She asked him.

"Jordan . . . "

"Woody," She interrupted. "I just can't help but feel that there is something she isn't telling us. That maybe she is hiding something from us. I mean when was the last time that you both talked. And why didn't she try to reach you all this time?" Woody sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sure that she had her reasons." Woody replied.. He could see that she wasn't satisfied with his answer.

"Alexis and I have a history Jordan. I was surprised to see her here, but I can't help but feel relieved to see her again." Woody took the pint that Jordan handed him. He played with the glass in his hand and stared at it for a bit. "Our mothers had been friends. They were part of the same church group. Alan and Alexis were more than friends, they were more like siblings to us. When my mother died, Alexis' mother kind of took us in. She would have Cal and me come over for dinner whenever Dad had to work late. If we got into a fight with him, she would try to comfort us." Woody took a drink from the glass and set it on the counter before continuing. "When Dad died they mourned with us. Barbara tried to help us as best she could, but it was hard for her as a single parent. She could barely care for Alan and Alexis much less us." He looked up at Jordan.

"So if you were all so close why did you loose contact?" Jordan asked. Woody sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I think it happened over time. After my dad's death, we had so many people telling us how sorry they were. I was really angry for a while. I was left to raise Cal by myself and it was a lot for me to take. I lashed out at everyone around me. Barbara had tried to help but I just felt so overwhelmed. I started to get into fights with Alan and Alexis. At first we just didn't hang out as much. Then we just stopped talking. I guess when we all left for college we just got too busy to talk." Woody took another drink from the glass and looked up at Jordan. "You still don't trust her do you?"

"I guess I just don't understand why she didn't try to contact you. Doesn't that seem odd?" Jordan pressed as she leaned forward on the bar.

"How often do you talk to your childhood friends after a fallout Jordan?" Woody asked standing up. Jordan looked at him with surprise. She opened her mouth to answer. She stopped when she heard the door open.

"Hey," Alexis said closing the door behind her. "You were right Dr. Cavanaugh. It was easy to find." She smiled easily at the pair. Woody's face brighten instantly.

"Hey yourself." He said standing up from the stool.

"So did you get permission from the families?" Jordan asked. She decided, for Woody's sake, that she would do her best not to attack Alexis. At least not until she found out more about her.

"I did. Mr O'Neil said that if we needed anything to call him, no matter what time it is." She pulled off her overcoat and set it over her arm. "And Miss Hogan was a bit hostile, but after a bit of coaxing said that it would be fine as long as we kept her up to date on everything that we find." She set down a carrying case and pulled out three file folders and spread them on the counter in front of her.

"I had to search Paula Andreas' file to find a living relative and that's when I found something. One of the researchers found Paula's aunt and uncle and had tried to contact them two weeks ago. They hadn't seen her or her parents since she was a baby. They said that they were very eager to meet her, but hadn't heard anything since they were initially contacted." Her face dropped as she looked at Jordan. "I don't know how you are able to do it."

Jordan's eyes narrowed as she looked at Alexis. "Do what exactly?" she asked.

"Tell people that someone they love is dead." She said quietly. "No one had contacted them about Paula. I felt horrible. I should have checked her file when I heard about her death. I could have told them sooner." The room remained quiet.

"Alexis," Woody's brow furrowed. "How was her family found?"

"Well, adoption records are always sealed, but somehow Paula's adoptive parents knew the names of her parents. She had tried finding them on her own, but she couldn't get the courts to open her records. She contacted a private investigator who referred her to us. So a people search was stared. We started looking for people matching those names in the greater Boston area about 25 years ago. Tried to track them through the years to the current as well as further back."

"Who was the researcher working on her case?" Woody asked.

"Michael Staves. I don't know how much further he got, I haven't looked it over thoroughly yet." She slid the file towards them.

"Okay, so what about the other files?" Jordan asked as she picked up one of the folders from the counter top and started to page through it. "Did you get a chance to look through them? Did you find anything?"

"No." Alexis shook her head. "I only looked through hers to find someone to get permission to release them so that you could see them for yourselves. Both of the others had contacts listed. Besides, I thought that since you're trying to find this person, maybe you should look them over first. After all you are the experts. You can ask me any questions you have regarding the research. I also brought my laptop," she said patting her case. "In case you found something and needed further access to anything else."

"Well," Jordan said picking up the remaining folders. "Let's get started."


	8. Reading Between the Lines

Author's note: I'm sorry to keep anyone waiting for another chapter. I would love to hear any feedback.

Jordan was thankful that they were in the bar. She felt she might have control over the situation. So she was even more thankful that very few customers had came into the bar that night. In fact so few people had stopped in that she felt that there would be no harm in closing early for the night. So at 9 o'clock, she had sent her bartenders home leaving them alone to work with no immediate distractions.

The trio sat working in the corner booth with plenty of paper work to look through. Sifting through the files slowly and systematically one at a time they tried to look at every detail. Throughout the night Jordan kept a watchful eye on Alexis and on the door. So far she hadn't heard anything from Nigel. Not even so much as a message on her phone. And Alexis, thus far, had been all business. She was nothing but professional. They all sat in silence reading over the files, each making their own observations for comparison.

As they worked Woody caught himself watching Jordan. He noticed Jordan's unusual quietness. He knew that although she wasn't saying anything, something was brewing inside. He enjoyed pouring over cases with Jordan like this every chance he could get, and it was this reason that he wasn't going to mention anything to Jordan just yet. He also knew it had to do with Alexis. It didn't go unnoticed to him that Jordan had been watching her since she first arrived.

He glanced over to Alexis. As Woody watched her pour over the files he was taken back to years past, when they would work in each other's kitchens on their homework together. He remembered that she had actually taken advanced classes and often helped Cal with his english and literature class assignments. Alexis had always been very good at reading between the lines and analyzing the text. He smiled thinking about how many times she had actually read through his reports for classes, checking them for errors before he handed them in.

"I think it's time a break." Jordan said interrupting his thoughts and bringing him back to the present. "I'm starting to get a headache." She raised her hand and rubbed her forehead. Alexis set down one of the files and reached into her bag and pulled out a small bottle.

"Aspirin." She said. "I always come prepared."

"Gee, I wonder were you got that from." Jordan said looking in Woody's direction. Woody just shrugged. She stood up and walked towards the bar to retrieve a glass of water.

"Actually, Woody's dad always thought that we should learn to be ready for anything." She smiled. "He was always trying to teach us something he thought would be useful. I remember a particular camping trip when we he took us up to some land near Rib Mountain."

"Ah, yes."Woody said turning towards Jordan. "Dad referred to it as a field test. He took Alexis, Alan, Cal and me into the woods and helped us set up camp. He showed us how to set up camp and then told us that we were going to take care of ourselves for a day. We had to start the fire and do the cooking. Then we had to find our way back out of the woods."

"Alan hated it." Alexis said laughing. "But Cal was right at home. I think he actually wanted to stay in the woods. Said that he would become a wild man."

"We didn't do too bad ourselves." Woody said.

"No, we didn't." She said. "I actually still go camping back home every now and then, although it has been a while. We should all get together and do it again sometime. A break away from it all would be good."

"Yeah, we should." Woody agreed easily. "And it would be good to catch up with everyone."

"Or you could just pick up the phone." Jordan said from the bar.

"Speaking of breaks," Alexis said. "I think we could all use a quick one." She slid out from the booth and peeled back her suit jacket revealing a simple white shirt. She closed her eyes momentarily and rolled her head from side to side. She then raised her arms above her head, first stretching then pulling out her hair clip, letting her long brown-red hair fall over her shoulders. Woody glanced at her as she did and he noticed a small flash of color on her skin.

"Is that a tattoo?" He asked grinning. She quickly dropped her arms and smiled sheepishly. She said straightening her shirt and sat in the booth once more.

"Don't you think we should be paying attention to the files, Detective?" Jordan said quickly walking back to the dark booth. "Could we please put off the old stories until we figure this out. What do we have so far?"

"Okay, so we know that none of the victims knew each other." Alexis said letting out an exhausted sigh. "They all contacted Connections for different reasons. All three had different results. They all had different individuals taking lead on each of their cases."

"All three women were found within a few hours of their deaths." Woody said "All of them were called in by the caller who remained anonymous. They were each found laying on their backs, arms folded. They were all strangled with the same type of rope. Each were found with their ID's and with a cryptic note."

"They all showed signs of struggle." Jordan continued. "All of them were killed somewhere else before being dumped in places that they could be found. We know that the killer was the same person because, the DNA from the blood and skin samples all match, but we have nothing that matched in the system. The only thing tying them together besides the way they were killed was the service." Jordan finished looking straight at Alexis. Alexis nodded her head.

"Then the key is A. K. Connections." Woody said. "Then that means that we have to look deeper than the files on these women." He reached for the files and lined them up side by side. "There has to be something within the files that links them together. Something that we missed." His brow furrowed.

Jordan looked over at Alexis. Her gaze was focused on something distant. "Jordan," she started, her eyes still focused on an invisible point. "You said that there were signs of a struggle. Does that mean that they struggled from start or only as they realized that they were going to die?" Woody looked up from the files.

"What exactly do you mean by that, Alexis?" He asked.

She looked up at Woody then at Jordan. "Okay let me ask you this. You said that Paula had left her hotel telling the clerk she was heading for a business meeting. The only business that she was in town for was to find her parents. When Lorna was found, was there any sign of forced entry?"

Woody shook her head. "None. The door was unlocked when the first officers arrived."

"And what about Miriam's home? Was there any evidence there that someone forced their way in?" Alexis pressed.

"No, we didn't find any and her granddaughter said that the door was unlocked and that the home was empty." Woody looked at her for a moment. "Alexis, are you saying..."

"The victims knew their killer." Jordan finished. Jordan looked at Alexis, amazed that she herself hadn't made the connection.

"Exactly." Alexis said nodding her head "I mean, why else would Lorna and Miriam let him into their homes. And they would have been comfortable with him and if they were in their own homes, they would have felt safe. They wouldn't know they were in danger until he attacked. Paula had no home here, but a hotel would have too many witnesses so luring her out of the hotel under the premise of discussing her parents would have been easy. She was so intent on finding them that she would have been focused on getting information." Alexis looked at Jordan. "So if the women knew their killer and if they would have trusted him enough to let him into their homes or to meet, it would be someone that they had met often before."

"If that was the case," she said letting out a long sigh, "and if their connecting factor was Connections itself, it would mean that the killer is someone who works for or with A.K. Connections."


	9. Association

Author's note: As usual I do not own CJ and such. I do own Alexis Kelly though . . .

Nigel tapped the computer keys with effortless speed. Unfortunately for him, he was putting great effort into his search for Jordan and it proved to be in vain thus far. He knew that if he didn't find something, Jordan would have his head come morning. But so far all he had found just expanded on what Jordan told him. Nothing he found could be thought of as suspicious. He found she attended the University of Wisconsin for a year before transferring to Boston University pursuing a Communications degree. But he found she left had left after three years. Nigel could only assume that it was because she met Colin, but then he found that her mother died about the same time. Nigel guessed that she left and simply never went back.

He had searched into her husband's death, which wasn't hard as it seemed since it turned out that Bug had handled the case. Colin Kelly had been killed in a car accident three years ago, leaving Alexis a young widow. Bug's report seemed pretty though and there didn't appear to have anything out of place. Mr. Kelly had died as a result of massive head trauma when his car was struck by an oncoming vehicle. Nigel made a mental note to talk to Bug about it as soon as he got back in from the Chicago conference.

He had even tried looking for an criminal record and all he had found were a couple of parking tickets that had been promptly paid. He had managed to bring up her driver's record and from the picture he couldn't see what Jordan was so worried about. From all that he could find on Alexis she seemed just like an up-standing, sweet country gal. Someone very much like Woody, he thought. But after several hours of searching, Nigel found nothing that raised any flags. He run his hands over his hair and let out a long sigh. He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. Everything he found simply backed up what Jordan had said. Cursing under his breath he came to the conclusion that tomorrow morning Jordan would indeed have his head.

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Woody watched Alexis as she stood up from the booth. She wrapped her arms around herself and started pacing the length of the bar. Woody recognized her movements, knew that she was deep in thought. He got up and walked toward her. "What are you thinking, Alexis?"

"Wait just a minute" Jordan interrupted. "Are you saying that one of your people is going around Boston killing your own clients?" Jordan also stood up and took several steps toward them.

Alexis turned around to face Jordan. "Not quite." She said slowly. "Someone who has an association with . . ."

"An association?" Jordan exclaimed, raising her voice. "Please! How do we know that you don't have something to do with it, huh? How do we know that you aren't covering up for someone else?"

"Jordan," Woody said stepping between them and holding up his hands in front of him. . "Stop this. We'll figure this out. Look, we won't find this guy by making attacking each other."

"How can you think that I am covering something up?" Alexis asked ignoring Woody and focusing on Jordan. "Don't you think that it scares me to think that someone is using me to hurt these women? I want to know who did this just as much as you do. I have done everything I can to help you both to figure this out."

Woody turned once more toward Alexis. "Jordan didn't mean . . ."

Alexis uncrossed her arms and held them up. "She meant exactly what she said. Not that I blame her." Alexis said calmly as she looked Jordan in the eye. "Look, obviously you don't want me working with you on this." She turned from them and reached for her things.

"Where do you think you going now?" Jordan demanded. "Going to hide away?"

"Jordan would you just back off?" Woody hissed. He was quickly getting tired of playing man-in-the-middle. And he knew that Alexis could offer them the clue to finding the murderer if he could just get the two women to work together and stay focused on the case.

"Hide? No." Alexis answered defiantly. "I'm leaving you both to figure this out. So why don't you just get what ever orders or papers or what have you to do what you need to. I'm going to the same. I'll leave all of the paperwork here for you and if you need anything else have Woody call me. In the mean time, I'm getting out of your way." She proceeded to gather her jacket and computer.

"You don't have to go." Woody said following her to the door. Jordan watched them saying nothing. He placed his hands on her arm and turned her so that she was facing him "Look, Jordan just meant that maybe you are more aware about what is going on then even you know."

Alexis looked at him momentarily studying him. "You think that too don't you? Maybe it has been to long, Woody." She put on her coat and opened the door. "If you need anything else let me know." She called over her shoulder as she closed the door.

Jordan barely let the door close before she spoke. "You still think that she is so innocent?" Woody didn't say anything for a moment. Then he slowly turned around.

"Did you really have to do that? Did you really have to accuse her of hiding something? She had been nothing but forthright with us from the beginning. She was trying to help us and you have to act like a jealous sixteen year old girl."

"Jealous? Of that? I just think that you are letting your past get in the way of solving this case. We have a murderer out there and you want to play catch-up with your old sweet heart. I'm just thinking about this best interest of this case."

Woody shook his head in frustration. "Whatever, Jordan. You haven't given her a chance from the beginning. I don't know what it is exactly that you have against her but as long as she has information that can help us you have to think about solving this case. That means you need to stop attacking her." He gathered up the files that Alexis left behind on the bar table. "I think that I'll work on these at the precinct. I'll see about getting a warrant for her employee list and doing some background checks. If I need anything I'll let you know."

"Woody, wait." Jordan called after him.

"I'll see you tomorrow Jordan." Woody told her before exiting the bar, leaving Jordan alone with her thoughts.


	10. Another Name To The List

Author's note: Sorry for the long delay with the newest chapter. Alas, I don' t own Crossing Jordan. (Sigh) Otherwise I would be a few dollars richer and a few story lines closer to our favorite pairing. I am a little slow with the writing but comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Present

Pushing her dark hair out of her face she took a split second to make her decision. She stepped into the road and began waving her arms back and forth above her head. The approaching headlights momentarily blinded her as the vehicle slowed. Allowing her eyes to focus she could make out that it was a late model pick up truck. It came to a stop a few feet in front of her. The driver' s side door open and she could see a small figure step out. She let out the breath that she had held in as she heard a woman call out to her. She took several ragged steps toward the truck, as a white haired woman came toward her with her arms open wide.

"Are you alright dear? Did you car break down or something? Goodness, you're shaking like a leaf. Come on into the pickup." She heard the woman say to her as she guided her into the passenger side of the vehicle and helped her slide into the seat.

"Thank you ma'am. If you could please get me to a gas station or something, I need to get to a phone." She told the older woman as she climbed into the truck and slid behind the wheel.

"Call me Laura. I've got a cell phone right here, honey. A young girl like yourself should have one." Laura handed her the phone and pulled the car onto the road. She shivered as her fingers attempted to dial the number.

"Guess I should have kept mine with me, huh?" She held the phone to her ear and waited for the connection.

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One Week Earlier

Jordan stepped out of the SUV and walked toward the familiar yellow tape. She hesitated momentarily when she noticed Woody talking with another officer on scene. Two weeks had past since there fight at the pub. Two weeks that Jordan spent avoiding Woody as much as possible. Which hadn't been difficult since they both were preoccupied with going over the case. She knew that Woody had gotten the warrant to obtain records from A. K. Connections and that he had been going over them looking for a break on the case. To Jordan's disgust they hadn't found anything that would be of any use. No employees with shady dealings or pasts. In fact most of the employees were grandparents with a lot of spare time. Two weeks of frustration. Two weeks with no leads or any new victims. She had thought that he had quenched his desire for killing. At least until now. Taking a deep breath she walked toward the front entrance of the home.

"Detective," Jordan said cooly."Care to fill me in on what I'm going to find inside?" Woody looked at her briefly then finished speaking with the other officer before addressing Jordan. He studied her for a moment before speaking.

"Promise to play nice?" He asked. Jordan said nothing choosing instead to look him square in the eye. Shaking his head he opened the door for her and followed her in."Mallory Mitchell. Age 23. Her neighbor came by for a visit and found her here then called 911." Woody said as Jordan came upon the petite woman sprawled out on her sofa. Jordan set her bag on the coffee table and began to pull on the latex gloves."It looks like our killer is at it again." Woody continued to narrate as Jordan began to examine the body."There was no forced entry. Looks like she was strangled as well. And another note with her, it saidshe brings bad luck" .

"Maybe she should have had a rabbit's foot." Jordan said dryly. She looked over the young woman laying one the sofa, her dark brown hair pulled neatly into a braid. "Woody, do you see how her hair is braided? The other victims had their hair braided. Why didn't we notice this before?" Woody kneeled next to her.

"I don' t think it occurred to anyone. Do you think that Nigel or Bug could find anything?"

"I won't know until we get her back to the morgue." She said sighing as she stood."Give me a couple of hours and I will get you what you need. In the meantime I think you need to call Ms. Kelly and have a talk with her." She looked over her shoulder at Woody.

"You still think that Alexis has something to do with this don't you?" Woody glared at her.

"I don't know, Woody. But I do know that she and her business are the only thing that connect these women." Jordan stepped around the girl as she pulled off her gloves."Maybe there is something that connects these women that even she doesn't know about. We need to talk with her."

Woody sighed and nodded."Alright. I' ll let her know that we need to meet with her again. In the meantime you find out what you can about our latest victim."

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"Nigel, did you find anything for me?" Jordan asked walking up behind him.

"No trace hairs or fibers in the braid."Heanswered pulling up the results on the computer screen."Standard rubber band around the braid. I looked at the other victims and they had the same style braid and band. This particular brand was manufactured by Corda Corp. and distributed to office supply stores throughout the country." He said pointing to the results.

"So what did you find for me, Nige?" Jordan asked.

"Is that all I am to you? An endless source of information and knowledge?" Nigel asked his smiling dropping slightly.

"Don't forget a source of constant annoyance." They turned around to see Bug walking into the room.

"Good to see you too, Bug." Jordan smiled as he walked over towards them."Seriously Nigel, did you find anything else that could help us?

"Right."He turned sharplyback to the computer."I tried looking into the dealings of the company itself, but the company is still fairly young. Nothing there. So then I tried to find stores that Corda Corp. distributes products to. Specifically office supply stores." He swiftly typed in a couple of key strokes."They distribute nationally to supply store and depots, but I did find something rather interesting. Corda Corp. recently started to open their own stores." They all watched the monitor as several red dots appeared on a map of the greater Boston area.

There are 112 office supply stores in Boston. Nine are Corda Office Supply stores. But," he said holding up one finger."Three stores are located near the murder victims, and two of those stores are located within a 5 mile radius of A.K. Connections. Voila!" He hit a few more key strokes on the computer. Several green dots appeared on the screen. Nigel beamed at the two of them.

"So what?" Bug said breaking Nigel's smile."There are office supply stores all over. Just because the company has stores located near by doesn't mean that those are the only stores where those rubber bands could have been purchased."

Nigel glowered at Bug."These particular bands came from a new batch that the company has just started to produce. A higher grade elasticity. This new and improved grade is found only in the company's own chain of stores. This is the only place our killer could have got them."

"Great work Nige." Jordan patted him on the shoulder."Now we just have to figure out how this connects the killer, his victims and Alexis."

"We're using her first name now?" Nigel teased. Jordan rolled her eyes.

"Is that why you had me go over Colin Kelly's autopsy report?" Bug looked again at the screen."You think that she killed him or something?"

"I just wanted to cover everything" Jordan answered.

Well I don't think that she could have. I remember that we had to wait a day for her to fly in from somewhere so that she could ID his body. Besides, he was driving his car drunk and he hit another vehicle and he paralyzed the other guy." Bug flipped through several papers."Here, see for yourself."

Jordan took the papers from him and looked them over."Nigel, could you track down the man who was involved in the crash?"

"The poor bastard that Kelly hit?" He asked as his fingers started to glide over the computer keyboard.

"Yeah, him." She said."And get me the printout of those rubber bands so I can get them to Woody."

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Alexis stretched her arms over her head and yawned. She had been up most of the night before working to finish a file for one of her clients and she was feeling the effects. Her secretary Maxine had been feeling ill so she was out and one of her assistants was on vacation leaving her to take on a few more hours. Not that she minded, it kept her occupied and her mind off of other things. Mainly the fight that she had with Woody and Dr. Cavanaugh. She couldn't understand why the doctor continually accused her of having something to do with it. It also bothered her that she couldn't find anything herself that may connect the victims other than the fact that they were her clients. She had handed over every records that she had to the police and still nothing could be found.

Standing up, she began to gather the papers on her desk to file away. Normally she liked to keep her office tidy, but the days were catching up with her. She pulled several files off of the first pile. She opened the first manilla folder glanced over it and placed it in the cabinet. She did the same with the second file and a few others until she came across one that caught her eye. The client had requested that besides the lineage, she would like information regarding the origins of the family surnames. Alexis studied it momentarily taking in the file.

Slowly she closed the file and set it onto her desk. Her forehead crinkled as her mind started to race. She turned back to her bookshelf, searching the titles until she found the book she was looking for. She wasted no time snatching her bag from its resting place and throwing the book into it as she headed for the door. She deftly pulled her phone from her bag and dialed the number as she reached for her keys to her car.

"Woody, it's me. I think I found something."


	11. And the Meaning Is

For those of you who have been following this thank you for your patience. I hope you enjoy. I run so far with a story then that darn brick wall runs into my face. Ouch. Again, I don't own any of it save the characters that I create...

One Week Earlier

Woody had been having a rough day. He was in hot water with the DA for not having any leads on the serial killer, he had spilled his coffee twice and was now on the last of his spare shirts in his desk drawer. He had spent most of his day stuffed in his office filing paper work for six of his other cases.

"At least those cases were solved." He thought aloud. Woody leaned forward on his desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. This case was getting to him, no doubt about it. Normally he would have asked Jordan for more help, but the friction between her and Alexis was taking a toll on him. He didn't like playing referee and Jordan was giving him a cold shoulder. He had tried reasoning with her but that didn't go so well.

When he explained things to Alexis she was a bit more receptive. In fact she had invited him out for dinner earlier in the week just so that they could catch up on the last few years. But she had made a point to tell him that he would need to make a bigger effort to talk with Jordan in order to patch up any misunderstandings. It had been a nice relaxing evening that night. Nothing exciting really, just laughing and talking. He wondered if they would spend anymore nights like that together. A knock on his office door interrupted his thoughts.

"Woody?" Jordan's head popped in through the door frame. Without saying anything he waved her into the office. "Nigel found something for us. All the girls had their braids tied with the same type of rubber band. He tracked them to a series of stores near A. K. Connections. And Bug is helping to track down the other guy involved in Colin's accident."

"What other guy?" Woody looked up at her.

"Colin hit another car and the driver in the car was paralyzed. I want to check him out."

"Why, Jordan?" He stood from his desk and approached her. "What kind of information could he possibly have?"

"Well, he may be really pissed off at Colin and wanted revenge."

Woody looked at her skeptically. "Jordan, I don't think that a guy who can't even stand on his own would go around exacting revenge on a dead man."

"Maybe he wants to get even by hurting Alexis." Jordan answered trying to convince

Woody.

"Jordan, you think that a guy involved in a car accident wants to seek revenge on a

widow by killing innocent clients of her business? Do you really think this guy could even subdue and overpower these women then kill them?" Woody continued. "That doesn't make sense."

"He could have hired someone to do it for him." She countered.

"Now you are really reaching Jordan." Woody said as his phone began to ring. He reached for it watching Jordan throw her hands up in frustration. "This is Hoyt."

"Woody, it's Alexis." Her voice came through the phone with excitement. "I think that I figured out what those notes meant. Do you think that you would have time to meet me and take a look at a few things?"

"Yeah, where are you now?" He asked reaching across his piles of paper work for a pen and paper.

"I'm just heading home right now." She answered. "I want to check something out, but I am pretty sure that I am on the right track."

"Okay, I'll meet you there. I've got the address. Just go home and stay there." He stood up reaching for his coat and started to usher Jordan out the door. "And do me a favor, lock the door until I get there."

"Why?" she asked.

"Please, just lock the door and wait for me." Woody ordered her.

"You always were too protective over me. Alright, I'll wait until you get here." She relented.

"Good, I'll be there soon." He placed the receiver back on the cradle. He put on his jacket and placed his cell phone into his pocket then walked toward the office door.

"Who was that?" Jordan asked pushing the doors to the precinct wide open and stepping into the steady fall of rain.

"That was Alexis. She said that she thinks she found something."

"Great. Let's go. I'll drive." She said as she searched for her keys. Woody reached out to take her arm.

"No," He said "You are staying here to work on one of your leads with Nigel. I don't have the energy or the patience to play referee." Jordan glared defiantly at him.

"C'mon, I'll play nice. Look, you don't think that I'm right about the other victim, so

let's try it your way first. Besides I really don't feel like standing here getting wet all night." Woody studied her for a minute. He closed his eyes.

"Fine, you can come with me, but I drive. Don't make me regret this Jordan." He said as he led her to his car.

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As they drove to Alexis' home, Jordan told Woody more about the braided hair on their victims and what Nigel had found. She explained that Nigel had narrowed down the store locations and that she hoped that she would have a chance to visit the stores that night.

"Jordan do you realize how difficult it will be to find someone who purchased rubber bands from any of those stores? It's impossible." Woody was answered with a typical Jordan Cavanaugh grin.

"Not if Nige is working on it." She looked out the windshield, watching the blades shift back and forth over the glass. She waited for him to say something further, but instead of speaking he turned the vehicle onto a quiet street lined with small houses. He pulled up to a medium sized two story home with a grassy yard and turned off the engine. A stone path led from the drive way to the front porch. Jordan could see a Alexis through a lit window moving about one of the rooms.

"Remember, you said you would play nice." Woody warned as he reached for the car door.

"You can trust me." She assured him. Woody looked at her. "Really, Woods, you can." He gave her a meaningful look and climbed out of the car. Jordan followed close behind. She would try to at least avoid starting any fights for his sake. If she didn't she was sure that Woody had give her an earful on the way back to the precinct.

By the time Woody and Jordan got to the door Alexis was there to greet them. "You have great timing. I just finished the spaghetti. Come in and get out of this weather."

She ushered them inside. Jordan was greeted with the smell of spices that were filling the room. She looked around at the house. It was modestly decorated with the occasional picture of family and friends on the walls and bookshelves. She saw that Alexis had started a fire in the fireplace making the room cozy and warm. The candles that were placed around the room created a soft glow. A short distance from the fireplace on a dinning table the scene was in organized chaos. Next to the laptop were several books laying open and papers were spread out.

"Come on over and take a look at what I found." She walked toward the mess on the table and picked up a book. She handed it to Woody. "See where I have marked the pages?" She pointed to several pages with post-it tabs with arrows drawn to various names.

"I was working on some accounts that had clients who wanted to find out the origins of their family names. Sometimes that can be tricky, other times it is very easy to find them." She said over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen. "Many times name origins are tied to geography, place names and such, like where the family came from. Other times it is tied to occupations or jobs. Usually this is the case with surnames."

"You mean like the name Smith or Johnson and such?" Jordan asked looking at the book that Woody passed to her.

"Exactly." Alexis answered returning to the room with three place settings and several plates and arranged them on the other end of the table. "However, surnames as well as first names could also come from nicknames. Or they might come from a description of certain traits that a person had. Of course there are so many variations on millions of names that many of them can mean similar things." She flipped open yet another book and handed it to Woody. "Read that." She said pointing to a name in the middle of the page.

Jordan looked over Woody's shoulder and read the line that she was highlighted in the book. "PAULA: Latin in origin: small or petite."

"I also looked up the names of the other victims." Alexis said turning toward her laptop pulling up a list on the screen and started reading to them. "LORNA: ancient English: lonely or alone. MIRIAM: Hebrew: variation of Mary: sorrow or bitterness. And MALLORY: French: lacking good fortune, bringing bad luck." Jordan looked at Alexis.

"So you're saying that the victims were chosen because of the meanings of their names? Do you think that means something?" Woody asked.

Alexis let out a long sigh. "That is where I am stumped. It could be just a coincidence, it could be that they were chosen because the killer thought that their names were of some significance. I really don't know."

"You couldn't tell us this over the phone?" Jordan said. Alexis looked over to Jordan.

"I suppose that I could have, but I usually work best when I am bouncing ideas off of others. So I thought that since you would most likely be working closely with Woody on the case anyway, I thought that maybe we could all sit down and figure some of this out." She walked into the kitchen once more leaving Jordan and Woody momentarily. When she returned she held a pitcher of water and three glasses of ice in her hands.

"You might as well make your self comfortable." Alexis said pouring a glass and handing it to Jordan. "We may be here for a while."

Jordan slowly took the glass and looked toward Woody who was already taking off his jacket. "Okay then," he said settling into a chair. "So the first question is does the name meanings have anything to do with killer or was this just a coincidence?"

"I've been thinking about that." Alexis poured a second glass and handed it to Woody before pouring one for herself. "It could be the names themselves mean something to the killer and that the women were targeted because of it. I suppose it is also possible that because the women had traits that their names described. Something else I would like to know is why this guy is why he feels the need to leave notes with the victims. It seems to me like he wants to be caught. That the fact that they were all connected through my business could mean that the killer had a connection to me or my business, or maybe one of my employees." She left the room one last time returning with a steaming bowl of pasta and a pot of sauce.

"So you believe now that the killer has a connection to you after all?" Jordan asked. Woody glanced at Jordan as if to scold her but Jordan chose to ignore it. Alexis nodded setting the dishes onto the table.

"I was hoping that I would be wrong, but let's face it. I would prefer to say otherwise, but I can't find any other was to tie the victims to one another and from what Woody has told me he hasn't either." She answered as she began to dish out the noodles.

"Is this your World Famous Polish Spaghetti?" Woody pointed at his own plate as Alexis gave Jordan her helping of pasta.

"Woody," She said smiling and dishing out her plate next. "Focus first, eat second." Woody smiled back and began to twirl the noodles around his fork.

"So," he looked first to Jordan then to Alexis. "We need to figure out how and why you are connected and how this person was able to get the information about these women. Their phones numbers, where they were staying. Maybe it was something about them seeking out their families."

"That's why I was hoping to bounce some ideas around." Alexis settled into her chair. "Either I'm the one the killer is really going after, or the women are simply connected through me, but that seems unlikely."

"Something else that I can't put my finger on is why the victims had their hair braided as they did." Jordan added.

"What do you mean?" Alexis asked.

"All of the victims had their hair tied in a neat braid. It can't be a coincidence. " Jordan explained. "The rubber bands used to hold them all came from the same chain store, Corda Office Supply."

"That's where I get most of the general supplies for the office." Alexis set her fork down. "It's within walking distance so if I ever run out of anything I generally head right over and pick it up. But how do you know that they came from that store?"

"We don't." Woody answered. "But if you go there regularly it may be a way to track this guy down."

"I don't know if it will help, but I can get the receipts of any sales purchases from the office. Maybe that could help." Alexis offered.

"It couldn't hurt." Jordan answered turning her head to the window as the rain pounded. "Wow, I haven't seen a fall storm like this for a while."

"You should visit Wisconsin some time in June." Alexis grinned as she glanced at the same window. "This is child's play compared to the storms we would get around home. You could sit at home and watch the lighting crackle across the sky or listen to the roll of thunder for hours. We used to get quiet a few tornados out of those storms, too."

"Can't say I miss those." Woody said before stuffing a fork full of pasta into his mouth. Alexis laughed.

"Neither can I. But there are a few things I do miss." She said starting in on her dinner. "I do miss those silly little county fairs and such. You know with the 4H Clubs and cotton candy, hot dogs and those game booths. It sounds so stupid, I know, but I always liked just hanging out with our little group and laughing. It could get a little interesting once the guys started dating, and tagging their dates along. But it was a simple fun."

"Hey, speaking of fun, you remember that year we rigged up the remote control car with a water pistol and then took it to the fair?" Woody asked.

Jordan sat and listened to Alexis and Woody talk about their days growing up in the Midwest. Alexis would gesture while she described things and mimic people playfully as Woody would laugh at her cheerfully. Jordan couldn't help feeling a pang of regret for not asking Woody about his youth more. He knew so much about her past and the events in her life, but she suddenly felt that she knew nothing about him. She felt a pang of regret knowing that even after several years apart, Alexis and woody still seemed to have a strong connection. She wondered silently is she could ever have that with Woody or if she would even get the chance to find out.

As dinner started winding down Alexis began clearing the table. Jordan pushed back her chair and followed her into the kitchen with a few plates. "That was pretty good." She told Alexis setting the dishes next to the bubble filled sink. "Why is it called Polish Spaghetti?" Alexis studied Jordan for a moment before answering her.

"Thanks. Mom made it once with Kielbasa instead of hamburger. Thus was born Polish Spaghetti." She plunged her hands into the water and began so scrub the plates. "Cooking was always an event in our house because Mom insisted that everyone participate. Between Mom and Woody I had a lot of cooking lessons." Jordan nodded her head.

"Woody has a knack for cooking." She said.

"I take it he has proven his skills to you then?" Commented Alexis as she rinsed off a few plates.

"Uh, yeah, actually. He made me his spaghetti once when we worked on a case together." Jordan leaned against the counter as Woody brought in the last of the pans from the table. Alexis smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, he likes to use that one to impress the ladies." She teased.

"I do not!" Exclaimed the detective. "We were supposed to cook together but Jordan was busy at the computer."

Alexis dried her hands on a towel and looked over to Jordan grinning. "For as long as I've known him, he would use his charm and cooking skills on girls every chance he gets."

"Tell me about."

"Hey, could you two stop talking about me like I'm not here!" He whined.

"Jordan, the stories I could tell you." Setting the towel on the counter she walked back toward the table. "But I guess those could wait for a bit. I think it's time we get cracking on this." She gestured towards the table top.

Woody marveled at the fact that the two women had gotten along so well. He started to follow her into the living room. Jordan followed him close enough to whisper in his ear before passing by him. "Told you I could play nice."


End file.
